Postnatal dietary supplementation with either gangliosides or choline: Effects on spatial short-term memory in artificially-reared rats

Abstract

This study addressed the hypothesis that dietary supplementation with either gangliosides or choline during the brain growth spurt would enhance short-term spatial memory. Male Long-Evans rats were reared artificially from postnatal days (PD) 5-18 and were fed diets containing either (i) choline chloride 1250 mg/l (CHL), (ii) choline chloride 250 mg/l and GD3 24 mg/l (GNG) or (iii) choline chloride 250 mg/l (STD). A fourth group (SCK) was reared normally. Rats were weaned onto AIN 93G diet and on PD 35 were trained on a cued delayed- matching-to-place version of the Morris water maze. All groups learned to swim to the beacon that indicated the platform position on the first trial; similarly, on the second un-cued trial, the distance swam to reach the platform decreased to the same extent in all groups over the five days of training. The groups also responded in the same way to an increase in delay between the first and second trial from 1 min to 1 h, showing an increase in the distance swam, accompanied by a decrease in the number of direct swims to the platform. Thus, all rats were equally proficient at using spatial short-term memory, regardless of the choline or ganglioside content of the preweaning diet.

Dietary Sialyllactose Does Not Influence Measures of Recognition Memory or Diurnal Activity in the Young Pig

“…Exogenous, but not dietary, gangliosides and SA appear to be effective at promoting cognition in adult or aging models [ 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ] and deficit (i.e., drug-induced amnesia, cortical lesions, malnourishment) models [ 34 , 35 , 36 ]. The impact on young, normal animals is mixed, but ganglioside and SA administration have shown both positive and neutral effects on cognition [ 31 , 37 ]. These studies provided preliminary evidence that exogenous SA improves cognition; however, there is less evidence that dietary gangliosides improve cognition in normative models (i.e., gangliosides are provided at physiological concentrations via the diet to healthy animals during typical development).…”

The Role of Gangliosides in Neurodevelopment

“…In vivo , the relationship between both short term and long term stimulation (behavioural training) and increased expression of brain gangliosides, particularly in the hippocampus, has long been known [ 92 , 93 , 94 ]. Although exogenous administration of gangliosides into normal or functionally compromised animals has resulted in inconsistent effects on memory, behaviour and learning, possibly due to compositional differences in the ganglioside, mode of administration and different age models (reviewed in [ 95 , 96 ]), some of the findings nevertheless support a positive impact of gangliosides on cognitive functions. Intracerebroventricular injection of GQ1b resulted in improved spatial learning and memory in rats [ 97 ] while high doses of bovine brain ganglioside (principally GM1a, GD1a, GD1b, GT1b) administered intraperitoneally improved learning ability and memory retention in neonatal, developing and aged rats [ 98 ].…”

“…In another study, ganglioside supplementation of the pre-weaning diet of artificially reared rats with CML (0.2% w/v of diet) had no effect on spatial short-term memory although the authors found the results inconclusive due to methodological considerations and in particular, lack of adequate controls. Notably, however, brain GD1b + GQ ganglioside content was significantly higher in naturally suckled pups [ 96 ]. Clearly, there are many variables to consider in design of animal trials which will adequately address the hypothesis, among them the developmental window within which gangliosides are likely to have the most impact, dose and duration of intervention and relevance in humans.…”

The pilot study: Sphingomyelin-fortified milk has a positive association with the neurobehavioural development of very low birth weight infants during infancy, randomized control trial

“…This includes obtaining more specific evidence regarding which nutrients should be provided, at what rate, in what mixtures, and by what means, to optimise the growth and development of these infants [1][2][3][4].…”